No shortage of essentials, medicine in NE, JK: Officials to Jitendra Singh

There is no shortage of essential commodities and medicines in the northeastern states and Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of the ongoing lockdown, Union Minister Jitendra Singh was informed on Friday.

Singh held a meeting with resident commissioners of the northeastern states and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir via video-conferencing here.

The resident commissioners conveyed to the minister that there was no shortage of essential supplies or medical equipment in their respective states and the UT, and thanked Singh's office for continuous follow-up of each of their issues, an official statement said.

Singh, Minister for the Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), received COVID-19-related feedback from the Delhi-based resident commissioners of the eight northeastern states and the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.

The minister briefed the representatives about the various arrangements made in the last two to three days for the movement of the people living in different parts of the country to reach their respective native places.

He said the process of 'Shramik Special' trains is continuing and appreciated the role of resident commissioners, many of whom were designated nodal officers, for coordinating the same, the statement said.

Singh said his office was in regular touch with all the state and UT governments, and the resident commissioners had been asked to follow up with his office and the central government on issues related to their respective states and UTs.

He also observed that while the northeast had received all-round appreciation for effective management against the spread of COVID-19, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh had decisively fared better than many other states and UTs in the country.

The hour-long video conference was attended by resident commissioners from Arunachal Pradesh (Jitendra Narain), Assam (K C Samaria ), Manipur (P K Singh), Mizoram (Ajay Choudhary), Nagaland (Jyoti Kalash), Sikkim (Ashwani Kumar Chand), Tripura (Chetanya Murthi) and Jammu and Kashmir (Neeraj Kumar).

Singh also spelt out how they were effectively trying to streamline the movement of migrant labourers and students so as to ensure that crowding was avoided and, at the same time, the requests received were also duly responded to.

The resident commissioners also gave positive feedback from among all sections of the people about the Rs 20-lakh crore package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

They said this had been universally welcomed in each of the states and Union Territories, the statement said.